NBC made me sick because....

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Did anyone else get sick of tired of NBC trying to sell Crosby and make him the center of attention no matter what. I remember in game 2 the Wings are up 3-0 and that idiot inbetween the benches is going on how Crosby is so good and how hes really battling. It seemed they would never give the Wings credit and even when the Wings are winning, its still mainly about Crosby. Crosby is a great player, but I dont think he would be as great a player if he didnt have the refs all on his side and the entire nhl association pulling for him to do well so the Nhl could get back to being a prime sport. The Wings have in my opinion 3 of the top 5 players in the world (Lidstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyk) and I think Lidstrom is a better player than Crosby, plus hes not a whiny, bitchy cry baby like Crosby is. Maybe if NBC wasnt so favorsim towards the Pens and Crosby, the games would be much more enjoyable to watch.

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Guest Crymson

Did anyone else get sick of tired of NBC trying to sell Crosby and make him the center of attention no matter what. I remember in game 2 the Wings are up 3-0 and that idiot inbetween the benches is going on how Crosby is so good and how hes really battling. It seemed they would never give the Wings credit and even when the Wings are winning, its still mainly about Crosby. Crosby is a great player, but I dont think he would be as great a player if he didnt have the refs all on his side and the entire nhl association pulling for him to do well so the Nhl could get back to being a prime sport. The Wings have in my opinion 3 of the top 5 players in the world (Lidstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyk) and I think Lidstrom is a better player than Crosby, plus hes not a whiny, bitchy cry baby like Crosby is. Maybe if NBC wasnt so favorsim towards the Pens and Crosby, the games would be much more enjoyable to watch.

It reminded me of ESPN during the '06 NBA Conference Finals and Dwyane Wade. The PbPers wouldn't stop blowing him.

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Thats marketing for you though, the NHL has picked their horse so the broadcasters rode it for all its worth, just like the other examples listed in this thread from other sports. All that matters is that all the right people took home the trophies.

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Did anyone else get sick of tired of NBC trying to sell Crosby and make him the center of attention no matter what. I remember in game 2 the Wings are up 3-0 and that idiot inbetween the benches is going on how Crosby is so good and how hes really battling. It seemed they would never give the Wings credit and even when the Wings are winning, its still mainly about Crosby. Crosby is a great player, but I dont think he would be as great a player if he didnt have the refs all on his side and the entire nhl association pulling for him to do well so the Nhl could get back to being a prime sport. The Wings have in my opinion 3 of the top 5 players in the world (Lidstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyk) and I think Lidstrom is a better player than Crosby, plus hes not a whiny, bitchy cry baby like Crosby is. Maybe if NBC wasnt so favorsim towards the Pens and Crosby, the games would be much more enjoyable to watch.

This isn't just a Red Wings thing....would I like to see more stars marketed other than Crosby? Without question.

With that being said though, it is basic marketing. You pimp and promote the hell out of your main product. The NHL has decided that Sidney Crosby is that product (or person I should really say). He's still young so barring injury he's going to be in this league for a good year and he has the talent to consistently be one of the better players in this game, and I don't care if I get blasted for what I'm about to say, overall he handled himself very well dealing with outside distractions and the media and I didn't see too much whining from his side, especially only being 20 years old. He's a good person to help promote this league, he'll be here for a while.

Again, I'd like to see more stars in the league marketed, but you guys want the sport to be more popular right? A way to do that is promoting your main product. You can't have the league get more popular by not promoting Crosby, doesn't work that way.

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Those guys at NBC were some of the biggest homers I have ever seen and they were not even from Pittsburgh!! The Redwings were by far the better team, even in game five where the Penguins just got lucky from one bad bounce, a garbage goal, and a bad penalty, and of course a hot goal tender. It made me sick and I thought of muting the tv because I was so tired of those asshats blatantly pulling for the Penguins!! That in itself makes the victory all the more sweeter as the Redwings still managed to win despite everyone trying to tilt the series the Penguins way. Go Wings!

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Those guys at NBC were some of the biggest homers I have ever seen and they were not even from Pittsburgh!! The Redwings were by far the better team, even in game five where the Penguins just got lucky from one bad bounce, a garbage goal, and a bad penalty, and of course a hot goal tender. It made me sick and I thought of muting the tv because I was so tired of those asshats blatantly pulling for the Penguins!! That in itself makes the victory all the more sweeter as the Redwings still managed to win despite everyone trying to tilt the series the Penguins way. Go Wings!

Pittsburgh has a team full of young up-and-coming stars and Sidney Crosby is a good start of the first thing an average Joe Blow might think of who probably doesn't watch the NHL much. Of course they'll want Pitt to win first b/c that's the team/player that most people will probably identify with first.

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Made me sick watching around the horn today all of them talking about how the NHL needed to BOOST the marketing on Crosby. I was like how much more can you do? I guess they could make us all put his face as the logo on the front of the jerseys. I've even heard a couple of sportscasters talk about how the NHL would have been better of if Crosby won the Cup. Too Friggin bad. Last time I checked, the best team wins the Cup and thats exactly what happened.

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This isn't just a Red Wings thing....would I like to see more stars marketed other than Crosby? Without question.

With that being said though, it is basic marketing. You pimp and promote the hell out of your main product. The NHL has decided that Sidney Crosby is that product (or person I should really say). He's still young so barring injury he's going to be in this league for a good year and he has the talent to consistently be one of the better players in this game, and I don't care if I get blasted for what I'm about to say, overall he handled himself very well dealing with outside distractions and the media and I didn't see too much whining from his side, especially only being 20 years old. He's a good person to help promote this league, he'll be here for a while.

Again, I'd like to see more stars in the league marketed, but you guys want the sport to be more popular right? A way to do that is promoting your main product. You can't have the league get more popular by not promoting Crosby, doesn't work that way.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but I do not approve of the NHL trying to emulate the NBA simply by promoting star players and shun great organizations. There is a great deal of history in the NHL, more so than in the NBA and, to an extent, the NFL. Why not promote that? Instead, they would rather denounce everything before the Bettman era and that is not fair. Why not promote the great old rivalries like the Wings- Hawks- Leafs, Habs- Bruins, Flyers- everyone else in the Eastern Conference? Instead the league chooses to artificially produce new rivalries like Wings- Preds- Jackets while eliminating the Wings-Leafs rivalry and promote one star and that is supposed to increase the popularity of the league how? Instead of trying to recreate the game in his image, Bettman needs to just get over himself and promote the league for the great league it has always been along with the great teams, rivalries, and stars.

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For sure the NBC crew outdid themselves on Pitt/Crosby. I'll guess I'd say even though it was nauseating - I suppose it's better than playing a team like Carolina (last time) - at least there is some public interest in the Pens.

They needed to balance that crew out with one Wings homer - I mean I'm watching the game, we're winning, and I'm wondering if anyone is going to mention my team.

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I really want to try to understand the other side of the fence since I'm probably one of the very few to where promoting the hell out of Crosby doesn't get to me.

What's the reason why most of you are sick of the Crosby promoting?

Is it Crosby himself? Do you all think they should market somebody else heavily (outside of Ovechkin)?

Is it the NHL in general for putting most/all of their eggs in one basket, Crosby being the "basket"? Promote more stars?

Is it just a "Red Wings" thing to where you want more focus on the Red Wings?

Anything else I'm not considering or am I asking the wrong questions?

Maybe you all do get what I am about to say, but from the angry posts towards all the focus I don't see it. There are definitely other marketing alternatives, but I don't see the harm in one of the alternatives being promoting the hell out of Crosby since he's so young and so talented and looks to have so much upside in terms of production on the ice and potentially leadership. Not a hard marketing concept to me. What's wrong with that, and what's wrong with him or the NHL in doing this?

EDIT: NC WINGS FAN answered my question(s) to some degree while I typed this post. Any other reasons?

Edited June 6, 2008 by SouthernWingsFan

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Those guys at NBC were some of the biggest homers I have ever seen and they were not even from Pittsburgh!! The Redwings were by far the better team, even in game five where the Penguins just got lucky from one bad bounce, a garbage goal, and a bad penalty, and of course a hot goal tender. It made me sick and I thought of muting the tv because I was so tired of those asshats blatantly pulling for the Penguins!! That in itself makes the victory all the more sweeter as the Redwings still managed to win despite everyone trying to tilt the series the Penguins way. Go Wings!

Oh my god I so have to agree with the comments made about NBC guys.I got so sick of hearing about the Penguins and Crosby.Last time I checked they got beat by the Redwings.Trust me muting the tv was the best thing I did while watching the game.THe only part of the game 6 I listened to was the presenting of Lord Stanleys cup to the Redwings.

5: In the East, so he's more likely to put up higher point totals and thus look better (also, larger potential market)

6: His previously s***-ass team is sort of a Cinderella story

7: He's the star player that "everybody had a chance at" in that convoluted draft

All of that makes a pretty winning combination, marketing-wise.

Personally, I wish they wouldn't put all their eggs in one basket, because hockey players have this odd tendency to take injuries and what have you. But he's a good choice, even though hearing his name every other sentence does get tiresome.

But hearing Doc attach the word "back" to every directional change while announcing a game is much more annoying. A player goes behind the net: "he goes back around behind!" a player moves through the neutral zone on the attack "he goes back ahead" a player dumps the puck into the zone "he dumps it back in" .. "back around" is another you hear a lot.. "back out" (confusingly enough, this is often used for the exact same action as "back in"). Drives me nuts much more then the Crosby stuff. He'd addicted to that word and says it every other sentence--take it out of almost any sentence he says and the sentence still makes perfectly good sense.

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The only thing that bothers me about all the blabbing about Crosby is the fact that he's not the only great young player in the NHL. The NHL would benefit by promoting more than just him. They are the worst at star promotion compared to the MLB, NFL and NBA. It's going to take more than just Crosby to get this league back on the map with casual sports fans and those are the people they need to get in touch with.

5: In the East, so he's more likely to put up higher point totals and thus look better (also, larger potential market)

6: His previously s***-ass team is sort of a Cinderella story

7: He's the star player that "everybody had a chance at" in that convoluted draft

You left out one MAJOR reason as well which is more important than all the others:

8. He led the league in scoring last year and would have done so AGAIN this year had he not missed 30 games due to injury.

People act like its some huge stretch to call him the best player in the league right now when it isn't and his stats back that up. That being said, stats don't win you the Cup and that is a lesson Crosby had to learn firsthand this year. Detroit had the better team even though Pittsburgh had the best individual player on the ice. Sometimes that happens. Those that can't seem to deal with Crosby being one of THE dominant players in the league are going to find it awefully painful to watch hockey for the next 15 years because he is only going to get better and better year after year so get used to his ugly little mug. Its here to stay.

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You left out one MAJOR reason as well which is more important than all the others:

8. He led the league in scoring last year and would have done so AGAIN this year had he not missed 30 games due to injury.

People act like its some huge stretch to call him the best player in the league right now when it isn't and his stats back that up. That being said, stats don't win you the Cup and that is a lesson Crosby had to learn firsthand this year. Detroit had the better team even though Pittsburgh had the best individual player on the ice. Sometimes that happens. Those that can't seem to deal with Crosby being one of THE dominant players in the league are going to find it awefully painful to watch hockey for the next 15 years because he is only going to get better and better year after year so get used to his ugly little mug. Its here to stay.

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You left out one MAJOR reason as well which is more important than all the others:

8. He led the league in scoring last year and would have done so AGAIN this year had he not missed 30 games due to injury.

Not really, that's more or less included in 5, the one about the East and point totals.

To me, Iginla with 98 points in the West (50 of those goals) is more impressive--even though I much prefer to see Iggy getting beat up by a Wings enforcer. He's the more experienced and developed player, though, so we'll see what Crosby does in time.

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Crosby is a helluva player, and he is getting better. He may get more attention than he deserves but unless you just tuned in -- thats kind of the story in the NHL. So he isn't the best two way forward, and he doesn't kill penalties. Heck, I don't even like him, but I can recognize that there is a reason people talk about him.

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